War Hero Rising
by Danball Vampire Shogun
Summary: At this point I feel like I've always been alone. Having friends, family...I just don't remember the feeling of being surrounded by people who love me and I can love in return. I feel empty, no emotions, I feel like a shell, does my life have much purpose now? Should I save the trouble and just...end it. No. I'll make the most out of this, I'll take down the Crystal Empire myself!
1. The Very Beginning

Three years of this lonely life.

It was a life I'd grown accustomed to, admittedly. True, I had to watch my own back, I didn't have any friends to spend time with or anything of the sort. I discarded the thought of fun and friends as a waste of time years ago, it was pushed home when those bastards decided to kill Uncle Chuck right in front of my face!

I remember when I still had my parents with me, I sure was a happy kid, but that was years ago, I'm fifteen now, only barely old enough to do what I've been dreaming of all these years. I can join the kingdom's military force and especially make it into the elites, commanded by none other than Grand Commander Shining Armor.

The screams. I remember them vividly, the tone, the pitch...the blood. Sometimes I'd like to think of anything else, something other than my own damn nightmares, guess it can't be helped, it's the whole reason I'm about to jump straight into a war that's been raging on for a good seven years, that's one hella long war right? Yeah, seven years of the innocent living in fear, needless deaths, and soldiers out there fighting to protect those who can't protect themselves.

One other thing that war caused for me, I'd get relapses every so often and I couldn't stop myself before the water works started. Usually, I find a nice, secluded spot in the forest when these occur, I don't need others seeing my moments of weakness.

Well, whatever, I can see the branch castle. It was hard to miss with its humongous size, wasn't as large as the main castle, but it was still pretty damn big! No use wasting time, let's go!

Even the double doors at the front of the place are huge, they're twice my height! Taking one last second to take the huge size of the place in, I exhale and prepare myself for what will definitely change my life forever. I push open the double doors and take the place in entirely, the immediate area was freakin' huge! The place sure wasn't bland like I it would be.

Beige and Green lined the walls in stripes, the flag of the country of Equestria was proudly pinned to the wall. The twin alicorns of sun and moon wrapping around one of another in heart shape, their wings flared out behind them and their horns crossed. I always feel a little more determined whenever I see that, it had an underlying feeling of hope to it.

In truth, I never knew why our country's animal was the pony and I never questioned it either. That's just how it is.

I rip my eyes from the flag and turn to see a large group of people in some kinda waiting area. I take another look at said people, they're all in everyday clothing, so obviously they aren't soldiers...were they cadet hopefuls?

I slowly walk towards the seating area, the damn place was full! People took up a seat every direction I looked in! I barely notice the empty seat next to a mop of...rainbow hair? How much hair dye does one need for hair to be so many different colors?

I walk over and plop myself down on the seat next to the person, I let my bag rest in my lap as I let my eyes wander over to the person next to me. I'm met with a female face and a set of magenta eyes looking back at me, she averts her gaze when I turn to her. Okay...so definitely female, a pretty one at that.

I look her over once more. The first thing I took notice of was the pair of wings folded against her back, so she was a Pegasus-type...Next, I take notice of her lean build, with a glance I can tell she works out often, even with the long sleeves of her hoodie hiding her arms.

I take a look at her outfit, she definitely liked covering herself up. With her long-sleeved blue hoodie, skinny jeans, sneakers and fingerless gloves. Every last part of her body lay beneath the security of clothing, perhaps she was self-conscious? I don't know. I also take notice of her...well-endowed assets, it's obvious she works out, so why are her boobs so big?

Noticing my stare could perhaps be coming off as rude, if not creepy, I decide to actually introduce myself.

"Hey there, my name's Maurice." Yeah, I go with my real name, most people don't know why I'm called Sonic anyway. I extend a hand to go along with my greeting, manners and all that...

She grabs my hand with her own and I see a small smile on her face, "My name's Rainbow. Rainbow Dash." Rainbow Dash? Is that her real name? I'll assume, many people in Equestria had bizzare names. Also, with the knowledge of her name, her hair makes a _bit_ more sense, it's still just a bunch of dye anyway, hair can't come like that naturally.

...

...

Yes, I'm aware that my hair is fucking blue, but that's not the point here.

Now for the million dollar question, "Are you here to sign up for the military?" She gives me a nod, her long hair swishing with the movement. "Me too. How old are you, by the way?" That question does not have to be creepy, it's a simple question stemmed from curiousity...

She either doesn't notice how stalker-like the statement sounded or decided to overlook it, "I'm fifteen. You?" So she's my age, huh? Alright then, someone I can at least relate to in _some_ way...

"Same. Seems like you didn't wanna waste time, fifteen is the minimum age to sign without a guardian." I remark, feeling like a huge hypocrite all the while. I hear her giggle, it sounds light and just a tad boyish, I'll admit that it was kinda cute.

"Like you're one to talk Maurice." Wow, she called me out on my hypocrisy, not that I wasn't asking for it anyway...

I smirk over at her, "Guess you got a point there." I rest my hands behind my head and lean back on my seat, by no means was the damn thing comfortable, but it'll do. The two of us settle into a calm silence as Rainbow passes her time by staring up at the ceiling, I use my own time to analyze some of the other hopefuls, I notice a blonde kid and a redhead who looked a bit older than me. The blondie was definitely no older than thirteen, so he must've had a guardian sign for him and the redhead looked like something crawled up his ass and died.

Turning my attention away from the two, I notice the armored man walk into the room. Nothing about the guy really stands out, he was a standard soldier, meaning he was merely sent to get us.

"Hello, aspiring cadets," His tone makes this sound monotonous and rehearsed on his end, "I am here to welcome you to your new way of life, the way of a proud and brave soldier." He says this while doing the country's salute, a fist over the heart in sworn allegiance to the Princesses.

All the other hopefuls reciprocate the gesture and I simply follow suit, not wanting to show disrespect, I steal a glance at Rainbow and see that she has her wings flared, her expression matches her actions. She's...her eyes, I never noticed how much they looked...like mine.

She's alone, her eyes are filled with hatred...something I'm all too familiar with at this point.

I return my gaze to the soldier as he lowers the salute and turns his back to them, "Follow me please." He begins walking into the hallway he emerged from, we all follow without question. "As you all can probably guess, we cannot take every last one of you into training. Your number is too great." I narrow my eyes at him, I can guess where this is going...

He snaps his fingers as the lights in the hallway fall to the hands of darkness, I narrow my eyes at the darkness, my vision adjusting quickly and I make out several silhouettes coming into sight. And...were they armed?!

With another snap, the lights burst to life again and I hear the other occupants of the room gasp, this included Rainbow, who took a step back out of fear. I level our little _guide_ with a glare, I take a step forward, something that seems to catch the bastard off guard. Heh, am I supposed to be scared of this? A situation that I'm more familiar with than I should be? No way, not after I was in it already.

"Let me guess. A little test, right? To separate the weak from the strong? The cowards from the heroes? The idiots from the geniuses?" I felt my face scrunch up from the glare I was using to stare into their souls, I could also feel the group of hopefuls staring at me as if I'd grown a second head, hell, I could _see_ Rainbow doing it.

"I'm gonna take a shot in the dark and guess this is some kind of test to see how we respond under pressure, right? If we lose our heads or react calmly. That's why you haven't already shot at me to shut me up." I cross my arms, preparing to drop another load of analysis on their heads. "Let's not forget that first thing you said, about being unable to train all of us. That was complete bullshit, in the middle of a damn war and not accepting every soldier you can fucking get? Not ideal." The soldiers stared at me now and I could spy the curving of the first soldier's lips going upward.

"One last thing. Not everyone here is trying to join the combat ranks. There are definitely more than a few engineer, tactician, and medic hopefuls. So, that means everyone isn't going to the same district of training and that means you'd be more than capable of accomadating all present!"

I'm panting slightly, desperately trying to regain lost oxygen from my little rant. I hear clapping and I look to see the man who led us in, his helmet off and his spiky brown hair flaring outwards.

"Nice eye you got there kid. Saw right through our little act." He walks up to me and I have to tilt my head slightly to meet the taller man's eyes. "Cadet Christopher Thorndyke. A pleasure to meet such a sharp mind." I grab his hand and give it a firm shake, guy's got a strong grip...

Deciding not to be rude, I respond. "Maurice Hedges." He nods at my introduction and smirks, he waves on the rest of the hopefuls, most staring at me in awe or fear as they pass, I shrug at them when they do.

Rainbow rushed up to me, pure awe in her eyes. "Oh my god, Maurice! That was amazing! How'd you know?" I smirk at her, shrugging.

"Take enough time to think about what he said and it's simple to figure out." I can see her beaming at me out of the corner of my eye, I wish she'd stop that, makes me feel awkward.

"Alright. Let's go then, before we get left behind." I nod at her as we make our way too where the large group went. Once we caught up to the rest, my eyes widened, what the hell was this? In front of us was a large field of rolling green, I would've called it flat if not for the many cliffs I saw scattered about the place.

Chris sweeps his hand over the large area in front of us, he was smirking, that didn't look good... "Welcome to Gaur Plains, our very own personal training field!" This was just a damn training field?! "Seems big doesn't it? Well, it's about to seem a whole lot bigger." I sure didn't like the sound of that... "You see, our main training facility is somewhere in these fields. It's up to you all to find it." I was about to drop a load of questions on this cryptic asshole's head, but the sly bastard teleported him and his buddies to Celestia knows where. I let out a growl, a little animalistic sounding sure, but that's how it's sounded since I was twelve.

"Dammit! They've left another friggin' test for us!" From the corner of my eye, I notice a girl in the corner of the room with a hand under her chin, I can tell she's thinking about something. I watch as she lifts her head and I can practically see the light bulb dancing above her head.

"I understand!" I give her a slightly curious look, where was she going with this? "They want us to find the way ourselves, right?" Please, common sense tells you that, what the hell was her point? "I think I know how to get to the facility!" I raise a brow, does she really? Guess, I'll have to hear her out then.

"What's your name?" I hear Rainbow ask from beside me, the girl beams at her. "My name's Twilight Sparkle. I wanna sign as a tactician!" Now that makes sense, I can see why she could probably lead us to our destination... "I'm Rainbow Dash!" Rainbow replies and I see the two of them beam at one another. This exchange of smiles and the like is making me sick...

"Nice to meet you! Anyway, we all need to work together on this! Now, do we have any engineer hopefuls?" I see the blonde kid from before raise a tentative hand. He was here as an engineer? Something tells me that he's not what he seems, I'll keep an eye on him.

Sparkle smiles at the kid and I swear I see his face go red, great, he's got a little crush. Little shit better make sure it doesn't distract him... "What's your name?" She asks him, what the fuck is with all these introductions? Does everyone wanna make goddamn friends here or something? This is the military, not some meet and greet to find new friends. It'll be worse when they have to watch those same friends get decapitated or fucking blown to smithereens. I myself didn't want to get attached to any of them here, but that Dash girl had just decided to stick with me...

"Miles, but please call me Tails." Why the fuck would we call you that? You're clearly human and in turn, tail-less, let alone making that plural. I roll my eyes as Sparkle points to a pile of scrap next to the near wall. "Can you make us a compass out of this?" He nods and gets to work, like that kid could finish that in less than an...

What the fuck?!

He already finished it! How the hell did he manage to do that?! That's freaking impossible! _No human being_ can finish something like that so damn _fast!_

"I'm done! It should be working just fine!" I had to admit, that was really damn impressive. This kid had a future in engineering, a bright one at that. He was a genius.

"Alright kid," I started, stepping up to him and watching him slightly recoil. Poor kid must've looked straight into my eyes, don't blame him, who knows what scary default look I have? "Lead the way." He nodded and turned around, leading the entire group of us hopefuls in the right direction. This kid could prove to be useful in the future, might keep a close eye on him...

We walked through the thick fog coating the deeper area of Gaur Plain, putting our complete trust into Miles. Yes, Miles, because Tails sounds idiotic. It felt like hours while we walked through the fog, I couldn't see my own hand in front of my face, but I could _feel_ Dash at my side. I didn't like it.

Finally, I could see again as we stepped out of the fog, I smirk as I see a building off in the distance. The kid actually did it! He's gotten a few respect points from me!

I was just about ready to blaze off towards the base, screw these guys! I've got training to do. And I would've, if not for the fucking _dinosaur_ in my way. Okay, so it was a Triceratops...not the point, there's a freakin' dino in front of me! I look back at my fellow hopefuls, I'm sure a few have pissed themselves by now. Dash seems to be shaking uncontrollably, she was paralyzed...

Worst part? The damn thing was charging at us now. Why am I so calm? Simple, it's not targeting me, rather, it was after the spectrum top I was looking at before.

...

...

Shit! It's after Dash!

Pushing my legs to their fastest, I flash by and yank Dash out of the way of its jaws coming down on her. I wasn't sure why I bolted like that, my body moved on its own, I already told myself that I wasn't going to get attached to anyone here.

Was Dash...growing on me? I sure hope not.

I didn't really care how the others were probably staring at me, I wasn't concerned about it. We needed to get out of here!

"Alright! We need to move, now! If we can get to the base just ahead, we'll be fine!" I paid little attention to the redhead who glared at me as I gave the orders, like I cared if he didn't agree. Let the fucker become dino fodder for all I care.

We all ran for our lives from the creature looking to eat us for lunch. Damn thing almost took a chunk out of someone in the back, was this a part of the tests they were giving us? This was insane!

The base was close now, just one last push and-

I looked back in time to see the damn thing lose its fucking head, blood spewed from the empty stub on its neck. I stared at it, speechless, not the only one either. The rest of the hopefuls mirrored my reaction, someone landed down before me, sheathing his sword at the the same time the dino's head hit the ground.

I saw black hair, accompanied by red streaks running through it. As they stood from their crouch, I noticed they were a little taller than me, he turned around to meet my gaze. I felt his red eyes gaze at my soul, I felt some kind of...bad vibe from this guy, weird...

"Are you all alright? I apologize for this, Christopher hadn't taken into account the monsters on the plains." His voice was empty, chillingly cold, a little like mine, only without the cynical sarcasm and general unpleasantness. He resembled an empty shell, hollow, heartless.

Devoid of life.

He nodded, even as we all simply stared back at him. "Follow me, I will take you to the base for your final test." He didn't dawdle either, he cut straight to the point.

Wordlessly, we all followed after him, too shocked at what had happened but minutes before. It hit me like a truck. This guy...this guy was...he was an elite! He was what I was aspiring to become...a true warrior.

I felt a tug on my sleeve and I turn around to see Dash smiling at me. It was that damn smile that made me feel awkward! By no means was the smile itself ugly or anything of the sort. In fact, it made her face all the more beautiful admittedly, but I just felt odd around it.

"Thank you so much...for saving me. I would've been dino lunch if you hadn't saved me there." I hoped she didn't hug me or some crap, human contact isn't pleasant as all those hopeless romantic fuckers seem to believe.

"Don't mention it," Seriously, don't. "I couldn't stand there and watch you get swallowed." She smiled at me again, I simply turned away, she might kill me with it. I noticed that we had arrived at the base, the sun long down behind the horizon and the moon coming into its place. Did I forget to mention our princesses did that? Oh. Well, it's an important detail, by the way.

"Yes. We have arrived," He began as he turned to the entire group, a hand on his sword. That...didn't look good. "I would like for all those who intend to sign as tacticians, medics or engineers to enter the building. Soldiers..." He seemed to reach into the base quickly, as if reaching through a hole and tossed out a good number of weapons, swords, bows, hammers, scythes, axes, etc. "You will be facing me." I didn't know my eyes could open that wide, was this guy crazy?! "I am your final test. Those who truly have a passion for joining our ranks will step forward and..." He drew his blade out in a flourish. "Face me!"

I glared at him as I stepped forward, along with the redhead from before. Many of the other hopefuls stared at us as if we'd grown second heads, like I cared, I know I _am_ going to join the military ranks, the elites! I drew a double-edged broadsword as the redhead drew a war hammer, I checked behind us.

Most, if not all of the other hopefuls quit after seeing the final test, those cowards...But, there was one left.

Rainbow Dash.

At first, she seemed a little hesitant. That wasn't my problem though...

So why did I flash her a smile to reassure her? I'm losing control of myself...

She smiles back at me and rushes forward, grabbing a bow from the ground in front of us and that was it, only the three of us remained. The elite who stood in front of us gave the tiniest of smirks. "Glad to see some who have true passion to join. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Shadow Robotnik." I feel like I've heard that name before...but where?

Whatever, now's not the time to dwell. "Maurice Hedges." I introduce myself and settle into the best stance I can create on the spot. Rainbow Dash nocks one of her arrows and began taking aim at Shadow, I hope she knows how to use that thing...

"My name is Rainbow Dash." That only leaves crimson locks with the hammer. "Knuckles Echids." Shadow smirks and settles into his own stance.

"Good. Now, let the examination begin!"

 **(Music Insert: Kingdom Hearts-Night of Fate)**

I didn't waste any time charging at him, I knew what I looked like swinging the blade. Like a kid with a stick, but that's the only experience I've ever had, Knuckles and Rainbow seemed to be in the same boat. Knuckles swung the hammer to and fro, Dash's shots missed by a good freaking mile or two and my own slashes barely passed as attacks.

Shadow remained silent throughout the entire thing, he was on the defense and seemed to be evaluating us. I growled, here I was, a rookie fighting an elite, a top-rank. How was I hoping to win? I went in for a swing and what happened next was a flash, all I knew was that I was suddenly tumbling across the ground from a nasty kick from Shadow. Knuckles suffered a similar fate when Shadow decked him in the chin and sent him flying upwards, as in HIGH! What kind of insane physical strength did this guy have?! Knuckles crashed down as his back the same time that Shadow tripped Dash off of her feet and grabbed a handful of her hood and launched her at us. On instinct, I caught her before setting her down, Knuckles picked himself off of the ground and held his jaw.

"That bastard can sure hit hard." Tell me about it... "Any plans?" He asked me, I grunt and steady myself on my feet.

"I'm no tactician, but I think our best shot is to work together." They both nod at me, Rainbow picks up her bow and gets ready once again as the three of us line up together as Shadow simply watches us, I can't read this guy at all...

I nod at Knuckles, he nods back. We both charge Shadow simultaneously, Knuckles tries to bring his hammer down first as I zip around to Shadow's back with my speed, I thought we had him trapped.

Oh how wrong I was...

He sidestepped Knuckles' swing and fucking _backflipped_ my horizontal slash, he landed behind me and kneed me in the back, sending me flying forward until I flipped onto my feet and I barely had time to sidestep Knuckles flying at me from Shadow's elbow. I see an arrow go flying at Shadow's shoulder, which slashes in two. He zips over to Dash once more and slams the butt of the sword onto her head.

She was out cold after that.

I glance back to see Knuckles unconscious as well, his hammer resting next to him and his head laying against a tree. Looks like he slammed right into it. Damn! I was alone, it was over, I'd never join! It's hopeless!

...

Wait, what the fuck am I saying! I've dreamed of the day I join since I lost all that was taken from me! I have to join! For my parents! For Uncle Chuck! No way was this bastard getting in my way!

I stood on my shaky legs and gripped my sword until my knuckles were white, I look up through my bangs and glare holes into Shadow. "Listen here..." My voice was low, barely audible. "Your in the way. I'm not letting anybody stand in the way of my goal! Not you! Not the fucking Crystal Empire! Not even the damn princesses! I'm gonna take you down here and reach my dream!" Shadow seems unfazed, he remains silent and stays in stance.

I try a different stance, one that feels a lot more free than the other rigid one I was in before. I bent my knees and held my sword tightly at my side in both hands, with one last glare I charge at him and see black afterwards...


	2. Accepted

Ugh.

Feels like I got hit by a damn truck. I feel a soft mattress and some sheets under me. Okay, so common sense tells me I'm in a bed, but common sense does not tell me where this bed is. Maybe if my head would stop fucking pounding and I could use my brain to think, I'd have a decent clue.

I rest my head back onto the pillow, I hadn't bothered opening my eyes, the whole damn room's probably as bright as the friggin' sun, judging by the sight of the red of my eyelids.

I think back to how I got in here and I kinda feel memories flowing back into my skull. I'm assaulted with memories of my struggle against Shadow, now realizing that he's the reason I'm here in the first place. Bastard must have done a serious number on me if I feel this crappy, my whole body feels numb and my head wants to fucking split open! Deciding that I've gotta open them sometime, I crack my eyes open and resist the urge to slam them shut again, that damn light...

I examine the room I'm in, to my left and right are Knuckles and Rainbow respectively. The room's a simple white, nothing fancy on the walls or anything of the sort. The place has a medical kind of feel, giving me the vibe that we're in an infirmary. That has to mean we're inside the base, I feel a whirlwind of apprehension swell inside me, am I in? Was I the most embarrasing thing they've ever seen? Dammit! Fuck that Shadow!

I let out a growl under my breath, I'm gonna find him and I'll-

"Maurice?" So Rainbow's awake huh? I turn to her and see her blinking the sleep out of her eyes, she's definitely still drowsy. The sight was kind of cu-

No.

 _No_.

"Yeah?" I reply, I hope this isn't some idiotic question about my health.

"You doing alright?" I'm doin' just dandy Rainbow Dash! Thanks fer asking, ga-hyuck! Yeah, because I'm _not_ in a medical bed, barely able to move with a splitting headache. I'm the motherfucking _definition_ of health.

"Yeah. You alright?" Wonderful, her stupidity is contegious.

"I'm alive, I guess." I hadn't noticed...

"Good." Wait why did I care? "I was a little worried." No. No I was not. Why is my mouth making words that my brain doesn't agree with?

"Thanks for caring." Goddammit! She's smiling again! That accursed smile that comes only to torment my very existence, to have me writhe in the agony of its sickening brightness! Put that nuclear weapon away! Or at least point it at the Crystal Empire!

"No problem." Her smile grows as I turn away, overexposure to toxic radiation will kill me. I hear an amused scoff from my left and turn to see Knuckles with this ass-eating grin on his face.

"Please, go seduce one another outside of my presence. You'll make me sick." You won't have time to get sick, I'll have already killed you, ginger bitch. "Seriously, though, what exactly happened."

"We got our asses kicked by Shadow." I reply simply, I hear Rainbow gasp behind me. Oh boy that didn't sound good, at least I know her smile's gone without turning around.

"B-but doesn't that mean we...we...failed?" She sounded devastated, dreams destroyed, etc. "I can't fail! I n-need to join, I promised-" She abruptly cut off her own ramblings, not before getting my attention with those last words. A promise? To who? For what? While I was curious to Rainbow's motivation for military enlistment, I wasn't going to pry. None of my business after all.

"Calm down." I needed to stop her from freaking out or something. "We don't know for sure yet. There's no way they actually expected us to beat him." Right? I mean the guy's a freaking moster!

"Y-yeah. You're probably right." Excuse me? Probably? No. I _am_ right _._

Knuckles opens his annoying trap from my left, "Bah. Whatever, let's just wait for whatever the hell they gotta say." Took the words right outta my mouth.

My head snaps towards the door as I hear it open, Chris Thorndyke walks in. He gives us this wide, cheesy grin that just looks kinda...stupid.

"Hey there rookies. How ya holdin' up?" My left eyebrow twitches and I don't even bother keeping quiet.

"The fuck does it look like?" He chuckles nervously and scratches the back of his head.

"I see your point. Anyway, uh, if you guys feel up to it, follow me into the main hall. It's important." Important? What's the occasion?

"Alright. I think we're good enough to go." How would you know Dash? I might not be able to walk for all you know.

"Great. C'mon, then." He turns and walks out the door. I glance over to see Knuckles already standing and Dash sitting up, I sigh and push myself to my feet. The three of us wordlessly walked towards the door, following after Chris.

Just what the hell was happening on the other side of this door anyway? Must be important I guess.

We step through the door and my eyes widen at the sight of an entire room filled with the hopefuls from yesterday. What was this? Didn't a good half of these people leave once we were told to fight Shadow. What were they doing here? And didn't all the medics, engineers and tacticians all go into the building? I'll just have to hear them out I suppose.

A man steps up onto the stage at the front of the room, his hair was flaming red, his eyes were the same color. I swear those damn things were burning holes into everyone present, the red beard on his face didn't help matters either, nor the battle axe on his back...

"Hello to all of you!" His voice was deep, commanding and booming. The guy definitely had a high ranking around here and I knew he had the strength to back it up. "You all may or may not know me, for those who don't, you may refer to me as General Kaizer. I am head in command of this branch castle and the troops in it." He was the head in command?! So...he was stronger than Shadow?

Gah! I scared myself!

I feel Rainbow lightly nudge my side. "What do you think this is all about?" She whispers and I shrug.

"I dunno." I reply simply, the answer is as unclear to me as it is to her. I can't give her an answer.

"The reason you've all gathered here is for the induction!" I felt my eyes bulge out of my sockets. Unpleasant feeling. Anyway, induction? So does that mean...?

"However, this is also a plain-out rejection of who we deem unworthy." Nevermind. "First, all medics, tacticians, and engineers are accepted as you need the porper setting to refine your skills and become a great asset to our military." Why do those specific classes always get the easy pass? Why do the soldiers have all the trials to fucking overcome?

"However, I am ashamed by the soldiers who enlisted, weak-hearted cowards who clearly are not passionate about defending our country." My eyes narrow at him, even as Knuckles grits his teeth and Rainbow hugs herself and stares down at the ground. "With the exception of three." My head snaps up to him as he stares right back at us. "Those three fought against an unbeatable enemy to join our ranks, that makes them more than worthy to become one of us." I feel excitement course through me. Was he...?

"I'd like to welcome Sonic Hedges, Rainbow Dash, and Knuckles Echids to our ranks!" He was. I did it. I FUCKING DID IT! I'm in! Now I can go after what I set out to do! I can reign death down upon the Crystal Empire!

"WE DID IT!" I hear Rainbow scream in pure joy next to me, Knuckles cracks a huge grin and chuckles, even I allow myself a smirk.

"Yes, enjoy your time as a proud soldier among us. The rest of you cowards, leave!" He yells as they all leave, a few choice words being sent at the General. I spy Shadow leaning against the far wall and my eyes narrow.

One day. One day, I'll take him down.

* * *

It was the very next day. Rainbow, Knuckles, and I were told to come a large training field, which was really just a section of Gaur Plains.

Once again, we were met by Chris upon entry as he smiled at us. "Hey again. What's up?" I dunno. You tell me. "I bet you're wondering why we called you out here." Of course we're _not._ "Well, you were called today so that we could determine your natural affinity."

Ah yeah, natural affinities. Okay, let me explain exactly what that means. Just about every inhabitant of Equestria has an affinity that they are naturally inclined to from birth. Affinities are seperated into three seperate categories: Inherited, Fused, and Raw.

Inherited speaks for itself, that's when an affinity is inherited from a parent. Fused refers to a combination of two parents' affinity to create a whole new affinity altogether, like Fire and Water to create Steam. These are slightly less frequent than Inheritance but they are still present.

Now for Raw, Raw refers to the purest form of an affinity, these are the rarest form of affinity as most people aren't lucky enough to get it. While Inheritance and Fusions require a source to use their affinity from, Raws can _create_ their own substance, hence why pure Magic is listed as a Raw affinity.

While everyone in Equestria has an affinity, not everyone can use it, little to none have access to their affinity outside of the military. Hell, I don't even know what my affinity is and I never knew my parents'. Guess I'll learn now after that long ass explanation I gave you.

Chris pulled out a box of pills and handed us one each, they were a simple gray color, nothing exactly outstanding about them.

Well, until mine turned white.

I look to the other two, Rainbow's has turned a bright red and Knuckles' has turned brown. Chris smiled at us and said, "Okay, now we have a hint as toward your affinities, now swallow the pill." We didn't bother wasting time and swallowed our pills.

I raise an eyebrow, did something happen? I look to Rainbow and almost jump back from her. The girl's on fucking FIRE!

"WHOA!" I hear her exclaim as Chris chuckles. "Looks like you're a Raw, you brought that flame to life all on your own. So, your affinity is fire." I see break into that lethal smile of hers and leap into the air, staying afloat with her wings. I just realize it's the first time I see her use them, she looks like an ange-

No!

"Fire! Fire!" Oh dear, I hope she doesn't become some kind of pyromaniac because of this, it'd be really inconvient. "Maurice! Look at this! I'm on fire!" I roll my eyes.

"So, I've noticed." Chris laughs and Knuckles gives a chuckle and Rainbow continues to fly in her excitement, I notice she's pretty fast, alas a challenge for another day.

I look over at Knuckles to see the earth beneath him rising up and breaking around his feet. "Huh?" Chris was quick to explain.

"Earth, huh? Most likely inherited. Seems like your a serious powerhouse kid." He grins at Knuckles, who grins back and begins smashing the ground into pieces.

Well, that's all fine and good, but...what's mine? I slightly feel my clothes being whipped around and a breeze blowing around me, I take a look at myself and see a small tornado rapidly spinning around me.

"Well, well." I hear Chris say through the rapid winds around me, I can see the other two watching me. "Looks like we have a unique case. It seems your wind falls somewhere between Inherited and Raw, you simultaneously gather the air around you while at the same time pulling some of your own oxygen from your lungs. You have a deadly affinity there, you're essentially combining two seperate kinds of wind into one. Very rare indeed." The heck?! How'd he get all that?! From just watching? He had a contemplative look on his face before he looked back up at us.

"I have a feeling you guys are wondering what my affinity is." I had a feeling about what his was but I saw Knuckles and Rainbow nod vigorously. Chris held up his hand and pure Magic formed around it. "My affinity is pure Magic. I'm a Raw!" He exclaims to us as Rainbow and Knuckles stare in awe. "Anyway, let's get you to the training room." Hold on a second!

"What about our affinities? You show them to us and just leave it at that?" I ask with narrowed eyes, Chris smiles and shrugs.

"Your affinity is your own, you're the only one who can form your affinity to the way you want it. We leave that up to you." That makes sense I suppose, plus it gives a person their own individual style to use their affinity in. I'll be training with this. Alot.

Next Chris led us to the training room. "This where we do most of our training, here and Gaur Plains mostly. C'mon, you guys start training tomorrow, for now I'll show you guys the rooms and you can get some sleep." Yeah, sleep sounds great actually. "We have two rooms, one with a bunk and another with a single."

"I call single!" Dammit! I was going to call it! Bastard!

Chris smiled, "I suppose that leaves you with Dash, Hedges. You two be nice now! No naughty business!" He laughs as he walks away and I see Rainbow's heat up like fire. I feel my own face burn as I turn away.

We avoid eye contact as we walk into the room, silently, we set our packs down near the bed. She turns to me, "Maurice? Can I take top bunk?" I nod at her as she flies up and settles herself in. "Comfy up here!" I roll my eyes and shrug, most beds are that way genius.

I lie down in my bunk and shed my jacket, leaving me in my black undershirt. I hear the zipper on Rainbow's jacket going down, boy I hope she's wearing a shirt underneath. I don't need _him_ making himself known.

I see her peer over the edge of her bunk at me, I sigh in relief at the sight of a white shirt, although I see a bit of a bra strap, but anyway!

"Hey Maurice?" She sounds a tad timid. "Yeah?" I respond to her, wonder what she's gotta say.

"Um, godd night, Maurice. S-sleep well." My eyes flew open, she wanted to say good night. That's all, waste of my time.

Now why was I about to say this?

"Hey Rainbow." She looked back down at me. "Good night to you too." She seems a little surprised at first before smiling at me. Not again! She's about to go mae herself comfortable until I call her again. "And enough with Maurice, call me Sonic."

* * *

 **Okay, hello chaps! Let my formally invite you to War Hero Rising! Now some might think this is late, but I had to keep the presence of mystery and cliffhanging there without me.**

 **Now let me say this. Affinities are NOT just elements, they're a lot deeper than that, I won't say anything else, but remember that.**

 **Anyway, you may not see an update for this for about a month, I'm going on vacation. I don't wanna leave it like this after only two chapters but my hands are tied. I also intend to begin the sequel to my other story "Element of Courage" at the same time I update this again, so look forward to that.**

 **See you guys in about a month!**


	3. Squad Placements

My eyes snap open as I give the room a quick once over. Why? Force of habit really, sneaking into hotel rooms and spending the night for about 3 years does that to you. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and let my feet touch the floor, I blink the sleep out of my eyes and stand up.

I bet you females are imagining me in my boxers...or less...Anyway, I'll have you know that I'm wearing a pair of black basketball shorts.

If you're wondering, yeah I did steal them.

I chance a look up at Rainbow, who I find sleeping soundly. Ya know she seems really peaceful when she's snoring like that and her face is softened, it's an absolutely beauti-

 **NO!**

Getting past that, I decide to throw on some clothes before she wakes up, I said I wasn't in my boxers I didn't say I was wearing a shirt.

Out of the corner of my eye I notice two black armored jumpsuits one for a male and another for a female. Now I wonder how the fuck they got there but I'm not complaining in the slightest.

I walk over to the suit that's obviously for the male and grab it from its perch on the wall. I begin putting it on.

Yup. Right in the middle of the room, but Rainbow's still fast asleep so no awkward half-naked moment cliché for you.

Only after I'm done putting the damn thing on(matching boots included) did I notice that the top is a hoodie. I'll admit, I kinda like it. No bulky armor to weigh me down and keep me from going full speed.

Right on cue, Rainbow wakes from her slumber. I mean, talk about great timing. I watch her rub the sleep from her eyes and yawn, a bit like a kitten really.

"Morning Mauri-I mean Sonic!" Oh god, she's one of those legendary energetic morning people I've only heard stories of. "Did you sleep well?" I sincerely hope she doesn't believe we're ultra-mega kawaii desu buddies from some anime now because of last night. Really, it was just saying goodnight...

Wordlessly, I toss her the female suit and her eyes glow as she runs into the bathroom to change.

As she steps out, she strikes a pose. "How do I look?" Was she...smirking?

Whoa. She looks pretty hot in that suit.

...

I bet you expected me to deny that. Well no, it's strictly and purely fact. I'm a fifteen year old adolescent male, hormones hit you like a damn truck ya know.

...

Oh no... _he's_ beginning to make himself known. No! Not now! I can't hide you in this freaking suit!

Before I get the chance to make myself look like a bumbling fool, I hear Kaizer's voice blare out through an intercom.

"Maurice Hedges, Rainbow Dash, and Knuckles Echids. Please make your way to the primary training room immediately." Celestia bless your soul Kaizer.

"You heard the man. Let's go." I might have been imagining it, but I could've sworn she seemed a little sad at the interruption. I was definitely imagining it.

We both head out of the room and I lock it behind us. As we begin our walk towards the training room, Rainbow decides to strike up conversation.

"So, do you think we can actually begin training today?" I raise a brow at her question.

"Whether we are permitted or not, I am starting my training today." She seems to silently accept my answer and we continue the trek in silence, just the way I like it.

We finally arrive at the training room and I push the doors open and step inside, Knuckles is already there and I see he has one of these suits too. His looks different though, as if built for someone with more muscle than anything else. He gives us that shit-eating grin of his that makes me wanna punch his fucking teeth in.

 **(Music Insert: Sora-Kingdom Hearts 2)**

I take a glance around the room and find an entire room full of soldiers. I notice that they all seem to be in groups, conversing about their own personal nonsense that I could care less about.

I now turn my attention to Kaizer, who stands right in front of us now with arms crossed. "Morning to you three. I'll get straight to the reason I called you all here." Great, because that's all I needed to hear. "You three will be assigned to a squad today. Every squad consists of at least three soldiers, a tactician, an engineer, and a medic. As you may have guessed you three are the soldiers. Your squad's tactician is Twilight Sparkle." Said girl walked up to us at the sound of her name, I roll my eyes when her eyes light up in recognition of Rainbow.

"Hey, it's you! I had a feeling something good would come from us being friends!" Oh shove the fate crap up your unmentionable orifice you freaking nerd.

"I know!" I'm tempted to say the same to you...

"It'll be great working with you guys!" She then turns to me. "Oh! I never asked your name!" I resist the urge to roll my eyes and simply state my name.

"Maurice. Maurice Hedges." However, Rainbow decides to open her trap at that moment.

"But you can call him Sonic!" I give her a sideways glare that she doesn't notice and sigh as I nod.

"Okay, Sonic." Ugh, it sounds weird coming outta her mouth. "Let's work as a great team!" I simply nod as she turns and begins chatting up a storm with Rainbow Dash.

Kaizer nods and continues, "Your engineer will be Miles Prower." Prower? Wait. That's the kid with the genius I.Q. Great, he should be useful.

The kid walked up to me first, looking me in the eye and nodding. "Miles Prower. It'll be a pleasure working with you." I think I really like this kid.

"Likewise." I respond curtly and nod back at him. He seems a little more confident than before...

"Lastly," Kaizer begins. "Your medic shall be Fluttershy Aeris." I take one look at the girl coming up to us and I can instantly tell she's a super shy one, let's just hope she's a good medic.

"Um, h-hello." It looks like that's it. I nod at her as she joins in the group silently and we all turn our attention to Kaizer.

"Your squad leader will be Christopher Thorndyke." You've gotta be fucking kidding me...

And like an eclipse blocking my metaphorical sunshine, comes Thorndyke. By no means do I dislike the man, if anything I respect him greatly. I'd be lying if I said he seemed like someone who we should take orders from though.

 **(Music End)**

"Hello! Looks like you kids got stuck with me for a squad captain!" Please don't remind me of my fate...

Kaizer takes no notice of my inner turmoil and turns his back to us. "That'll be all, you may commence your training as you wish, Cadet Thorndyke shall supervise."

Chris claps his hands together as he looks at us. "Okay, why don't you guys do some training and get to know each other better?" Sparkle raises a brow at him.

"And you?" Chris grins and points at the far corner of the room.

"I'll be napping over there!" And the fucker just went over and popped onto his ass asleep!

I walk over to a weapons rack and grab a sword, Knuckles follows my lead and grabs a war hammer. I smirk at the redhead and point my blade at him.

"Think you can take me, knucklehead?" He grins back and hefts his hammer on his shoulder.

"Anyday, blue boy." We give each other one last grin before walking to opposite sides of our training section.

 **(Music Insert: Future Masters-Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep)**

Knuckles makes the first move, coming right at me and raising his hammer above his head, I dodge to the right as his hammer crushes the ground I stood on previously. I slash at his exposed side, only for him to place his hammer in front of him and block my attack. He swings from the right and I quickly place my hand on it before vaulting above him and coming down from above with a slash.

The lucky bastard freaking blocked me again, leaving me off balance as he reeled the hammer back and swung straight at my stomach. I didn't have much time to react and went with the initial reaction, I stuck the sword out in front of me in a reverse grip, the blade facing the ground diagonally and barely blocked the attack despite being pushed back a few feet.

"Not bad." I genuinely compliment, something I really don't do often. He smirks, "Same to you." With that, we're charging each other once again.

* * *

Rainbow, Twilight, and Tails looked on at the spar in awe. Sonic and Knuckles were evenly matched exactly.

"Their fighting styles clash in the most perfect of ways." Rainbow turned her attenion to Twilight when she said this, said tactician continuing. "Knuckles relies heavily on power but he's rather slow, making powerful attacks his specialty. He also initiats all attacks here meaning he likes to stay on the offensive. Sonic however, relies on speed and quick, precise attacks, and as opposed to Knuckles remaining grounded and sturdy, Sonic is light and aerial. Have you noticed that Sonic likes attacking while in the air? Which also contributes to his preference of countering as opposed to initiation."

Tails turned his attention to her, "So basically, they fight in completely opposite ways?" Twilight smiled at him and winked.

"Bingo."

Chris observed with a single open eye as he watched Sonic swivel around to Knuckles' back, only for the boy to roll forward from the attack and then leap forward with hammer above and strike down upon Sonic, who back-rolled from it.

Now Chris wondered when they got this good, they were slightly better than when he watched them fight Shadow. True, they still needed work but it wasn't bad to any extent.

Now he wondered what they could do with their affinities...

 **(Music End)**

* * *

Well, in the end, Knuckles and I called it a draw, seeing as neither of us was gaining any ground. Chris woke up from his freaking nap to tell us training was done for today and we could do whatever we liked.

So I trained more.

Well, to be specific, I went into the field and focused on my wind affinity. So far, I could produce a mini-tornado in my palm and I honestly hated that.

I wish I could produce more with it, wind is really versatile, right? Shouldn't it be easy to form my attacks with it...

My eyes widened as I realized something. How could I use wind...defensively, surely I could create a balance of attack and defense right? It would take time and a whole lotta training to pull off but hey...

In the end of it all, it'll just make the Crystal Empire easier to shatter, right?

* * *

 **Feels great to be back! Going so long without writing was horrible and I'm sorry to those who waited for me.**

 **Anyway, I'm glad this chapter finally got finished as we're almost clear of the introduction and training arc.**

 **Anyway, the first chapter of the sequel to "Element of Courage" should be here sometime along the next week so look out for it! The title is "Courage Rides on the Wind" hope that sounds okay to you all.**

 **Anyway, see ya!**


	4. Rage Awakened

It's been a week since we were put into our squads, nothing good has really come from it either. Rainbow thinks our friendship is "unbreakable" now that we're in the same squad(which is bullshit), Sparkle has been brainstorming on tactics and formations that our team could pull off, Miles(I refuse to call him Tails)has been working on our...weapons apparently, I think he mentioned...upgrading them? No clue what he meant. Knuckles and I have been sparring everyday and I think we're both improving from it, although I'm still way better. Obviously. Fluttershy was incredibly shy around all of us, but she'll adjust over time.

And then there's Thorndyke.

That fucker is always sleeping.

All. The. Fucking. Time!

Fluttershy asks him a question about her placement during an important battle, he's fucking sleeping. Dash asks him about training regimens and how she can improve, the fucker's eyes are shut. Knuckles and I are having a spar to end all spars and the stupid fuck is still asleep!

What kind of squad leader sleeps so damn much! It's unbelievable!

I let my anger directed at my _squad leader_ subside before going back into my affinity training, cupping my hands in front of me as I let my eyes shut. This was my training, I've been trying(and failing)to create a new technique out of it but as you can see...it's not going very well.

The _audibly_ struggling spectrum-head beside me didn't help _at all_.

Rainbow had just up and decided that she would be coming along to train her affinity with me, saying she really needed some help from me. What was my initial response you ask?

 **(Flashback)**

"HELL NO!"

 **(Flashback End)**

Granted, she had pulled the puppy dog eyes out on me, that damn warhead smashing right into my damn face with how freaking effective it was! Can we please patent that! Who knows what kind of devastation I can unleash on the Crystal Empire with something like that!

"Sonic...nothing's happening...I can't make it come out. Can you help me?" She asked whilst directing a pout at me, I blinked at her before lightly glaring.

"Does it look like I have an affinity for Fire? What the hell can I do to help you?" I don't fucking care if you think that sounded harsh, it's the truth. How can I, someone with an affinity for _Wind,_ help someone with an affinity for Fire?

I swear if you make some romantic metaphor about Wind strengthening the flame then I _will_ materialize next to you and tear your throat out so that you can no longer preach your fucking idiotic romantic bullshit!

Her pout only grew in size, "I dunno...maybe just give me some pointers and tell me how you're doing yours?" I could see the hope in her eyes, the hope that would rival that of a naive child...

I'd enjoy crushing it.

"I'm not so sure about that...maybe you'd be better off just...giving it up...after all, not ALL soldiers master an affinity." I shrugged, that was indeed the truth, a lot of soldiers never unlocked or mastered their affinity...

They died rather quickly.

I saw Rainbow's pout become a small frown and her eyes narrowed an inch. Hm...peculiar...I smirked when I realized what I was doing...

I was making her mad.

"Well...I'm not so sure I should, I can do it if I-"

"And no matter how much you try, you're most likely never gonna get it anyway..." I watched with a bit of cruel satisfaction when I saw her eyebrow twitch and her teeth bared themselves briefly, boy this was getting amusing...

"Hey, if everyone just quit when they couldn't do something then we can't move forward." I could hear the underlying tone of anger in her tone and the way her words seemed to be forcibly calmed. Was I maybe enjoying this a bit too much? I'm sure I am but this is the first time I've actually seen her angry and not this bright ball of sunshine that she usually is.

"But there are just those who can't surpass their limits...maybe you should accept that you are one of these people..." Oh boy, she was full on glaring at me now, anger-filled narrow eyes, an enraged gritting of the teeth and...heh, look at that.

A small tongue of flame exuding from her tightly clenched right fist.

"Just...just...shut UP! You're so SO...pessimistic and negative and...and...so MEAN!" I raised an eyebrow at the outburst, so she fully understands that all those previous remarks of mine were entirely hostile. Good, now I won't have to make it clear. "You're always frowning or glaring at something...usually me and I never understand WHY?! What have I done to you? What makes you so adamant on being distant and doing everything in your power to NOT be my friend!?" Ya know...she brings up a good point...why do I do that? She was annoying at first but she really isn't THAT bad.

A little too energetic though...

"When I met you at the initiation...I thought you were a really nice guy...I thought we could even be friends. After we were accepted and put on the same squad, I thought we were definitely gonna be friends...you even saved me during initiation..." She paused as her voice slowly died down and her small, delicate hand reached up to rub her arm, her beautiful eyes downcast...

"I thought...you actually liked me..." Those plump lips set in an unfitting frown...

I let out a sigh...I just got played...and I'm perfectly fine with that...

I gently grab her hand in mine, my much bigger one enveloping her much smaller(and much hotter...literally! Remember that she has an affinity for FIRE!)one. I heard her give a soft gasp before our eyes met, a heavy blush sat on her face...and I knew my face was heating up in a similar manner as much as I didn't wanna admit that...

"I'm only gonna help this time."

"O-okay..."

I called forth my still developing wind affinity and pumped it into her hand and a brilliant flame burst forth from our joint hands. It had an odd warmth that felt really...nice, I looked over to Rainbow and saw her giving me a big smile.

As beautiful as our flame was, it only really lasted for a bit more than a minute, it had died out not long after...

"Gah!" I was NOT expecting the surprise hug Rainbow had wrapped me in, she was squeezing around my neck and I could feel her cheek pressed against mine. My hands flew to her waist(on instinct I swear!)and wrapped around her...she has a really slim-

 **NO!**

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you so much! I knew you cared!" Well I wouldn't exactly say-urk?!

I felt something warm and a little moist press against my cheek, it...it came in a pair it s-seems...oh god...she actually did it didn't she?

 **CRITICAL HIT!**

She...sh-she kissed me...wh-wha...

Oh dear great Celestia...I'm blushing now...my face feels like it got shoved into a fucking furnace! I froze stock still when I felt her wiggle herself deeper into my hold, her soft cheeks were still making direct contact with my own, her...plump...assets pressing against my own chest and...and...her tender hold making me feel...

...Safe.

The last time I felt secure in an embrace like this...was when I still had my mother with me...during the times I would have a nightmare or see monsters in my room that were nothing but illusionary creatures casted from the paranoia of a child's overactive imagination. How...was this girl, whose hair I'm still debating with myself if it's natural or dyed, able to evoke this...peace from deep within me...how? I don't understand!

"I...I know you've never really wanted me to hug you...with all the looks you'd give me whenever I thought about it but..." Her grip around my neck softened ever so slightly, becoming an even gentler embrace than before, "With you...I just feel so-"

 **BOOM!**

My eyes widened at the sound of a heavy explosion. Shit...that sounded close! The training grounds! That's where it came from! Shocked still from the unexpected, earth-shaking blast, Rainbow reflexively tightened her hold out of fear.

"Wh-What was that?!" She frantically gasped out.

"An explosion. A really powerful one at that." I said seriously. I placed my hand on her waist again and gently pried her off of me, looking to my right where the sound emanated from and seeing a pillar of smoke coming from the training build at the center of Gaur Plains. I grit my teeth, that's where the dorm rooms are! What exactly was going on over there?

"An explosion?" Rainbow asked me as we stood from our embrace on the soft grass of the plain and taking off in a sprint towards the training facility. Well, a sprint for myself and an extension of her wings from Rainbow Dash, I would comment on how this is the first time I've seen her flying but now's not the time!

We stopped just before the burning building of the training facility, taking a moment to take in all the chaos. Heavy, black smoke filtered its way into the air, making the simple act of breathing a hassle. The grass around the flaming construct had turned charcoal black in its burnt state and formed almost...a ring of death around the massive building...it filled me with a bad feeling.

Of course, the next thing I took notice of was our senior soldiers fighting off the enemy...an enemy I knew too well...

That insignia was unmistakeable.

I would call it a snow flake...if it weren't for its red color and the stylized red lines going down from each of its several ends to represent the blood of their enemies. Another part of the symbol that stuck to my eternal memory was the white alicorn pony...drenched in blood, the essential fluids leaking from its eyes, along with every other facial orifice.

I felt my breathing hitch and my body tense up, my hands clenched and unclenched repeatedly. I felt my eyes narrowing dangerously and the dull pain that came with gritting my teeth as hard as I was now. They were here...right in front of me...almost presenting themselves to be torn apart!

I'm gonna go wild.

I barely registered Rainbow Dash's slightly fearful eyes as I gave a loud, animalistic and primal cry of pure rage and unyielding hatred. They were here! Ready for me to fucking cut into pieces! To make the, less recognizable than a pile of pony shit! I'll kill them! I'll kill 'em all! I grabbed a sword from the ground right by me, I didn't give a shit who it belonged to or why the hell it was there! In addition, I pulled my own blade from my sheathe and held it in my dominant hand.

Oh this was fucking perfect. Two blades means twice the carnage on these fuckers!

And then...I took off.

* * *

My clothes whipped around wildly from the sheer force of Sonic's takeoff, that was the fastest I'd ever seen him move!

But...

That look in his eyes...that scream he let out...

That wasn't him.

The Sonic I've come to know is cynical, negative, pessimistic and a bit of an asshole...on the exterior anyway. If you're persistent enough, you can slowly crack through all that tough outer skin and get to the kind, caring and cocky interior it'll be worth your while.

This Sonic was...filled with anger...hatred and just a slew of...negative emotions. He was bloodthirsty, enraged, primal and...just a little manic. I watched in horror and morbid curiosity as he zipped through all the Crystal Empire soldiers that had decided to attack us. Whenever he raised his blade, blood flew into the air. Whenever he was attacked, disembodied limbs and weapons were sent flying. The archers and gunmen couldn't hit him, they missed by miles and before they even registered that fact they were subjected to a brutal, gory demise. It was unbelievable that Sonic could even tell friend from foe at the moment, a mere second ago Knuckles had been surrounded by enemies. I blinked...and all that remained were cut up, unrecognizable slabs of meat...

"Die! Die! DIE! DIE! DIE! ALL OF YOU MISERABLE FUCKERS CAN GO TO HELL!" All who were present heard this scream of pure outrage. It...scared me to be purely honest...

"Is that...really Sonic?" I heard the familiar voice of Twilight speak out from behind me. Her voice was shaky, disbelieving as she watched our partner and friend tear through an entire attack squadron like a veritable one-man army, running off of pure rage and animosity alone.

"I can't believe it..." Tails gasped out whilst observing what should be an impossible feat. All of our soldiers who were fighting before were forced to take a backseat as Sonic continued to make quick work of all our enemies.

"N-No stay back!" The soldier who pleaded for mercy was reduced to a disgusting blood stain.

"Please! I have a family!" A blade was sent through his chest and promptly swung upward from there, tearing the man in half like a child tearing paper with his own hands.

"My husband is waiting for me at home! We've only just married!" The woman who screamed this was chopped into four neat pieces.

The vivid, beautiful grass of Gaur Plains was dyed red with the blood of Crystal Empire cadets. My eyes widened further when even Shadow himself took a step back from participating when Sonic tore through the enemies he had been engaged with.

"This opportunity is too perfect! Bet you pieces of shit were expecting an easy assault! Well guess what!" My blood ran cold at Sonic's manic laughter, teetering on the border between simply crazy and full blown insane, "I'M HERE AND I'LL SHOW YOU WHY THAT'S A PROBLEM FOR YOU! I'LL KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU!"

* * *

 **I'M BACK! This story is not dead! Trust me!**

 **So...bet you all thought this would be a cutesy, fluffy chapter judging from the first part huh? Well no...it's not. We now know how Sonic gets when he's absolutely enraged and the enemy is before him.**

 **Anyway, see you all. I have no more to add except see you for the next chapter!**


	5. Vela Nova

"He's lost all reason..." Knuckles muttered at the sight of the massacre. He had regrouped with the rest of us not long after Sonic had cleared out all the enemies around him. His rampage was very much still on course and didn't seem to be any closer to ending than it had been when Sonic began.

My heart ached every time I looked at him. Seeing him like this...truly hurt...I just wanted the Sonic I knew back...

"I'd say that is an understatement. Wouldn't you?" The calm, intimidating voice of Shadow sounded out from right next to me, causing all of us to jump in fright. I guess we were all a bit jumpy at the moment. "Cadet Hedges has gone mad with true hatred. He's deriving all this strength from his thirst for revenge." That last part had really caught my attention. I'd known from before that Sonic had a serious hatred towards the Crystal Empire, sure he's never said it out loud but I'd see the way his eyes would narrow and his teeth bare every time they were even mentioned. I wasn't at all fond of them either for what they did to my dad...but I never knew why Sonic had such a burning loathing of them.

"Seargant Shadow...you wouldn't happen to know why Sonic wants revenge against the Crystal Empire would you?" He turned his uncaring, blood-red gaze to me, his expression neutral and his mouth set in a tight line. I caught sight of my teammates leaning over into the conversation with interest. Shadow scoffed lightly and crossed his arms over his chest.

"I assume I don't have to repeat this but we're in the middle of war," He started off, "The enemy constantly attacks our military bases and innocent, civilian villages alike." Of course I knew about that, many people have lost their lives during raids from the Crystal Empire. "According to his records, Maurice Hedges was born on South Island on June 23 to Aleena and Jules Hedges. Currently, Maurice is classified as an orphan who was left in the care of his Uncle Charles...who is now deceased as well."

Sonic's parents...his family...were killed by the Crystal Empire. He has no family left...not a mother to embrace and assure him, not a father to guide and teach him...no siblings...aunts or uncles...

Sonic...what have you been living with all this time?

"BLEED! BEG FOR MERCY! EVERY PLEA IS MUSIC TO MY EARS! FUCKING GROVEL!" He screamed to the heavens as he readied his feet and shot off with a massive burst of speed. Heads, arms, legs and more went flying as soon as he kicked off, pained screams were cut short with every swing.

"Despite his clear problem with mental health, his skill and strength are more than valuable assets in this war. It's time you see that sparing your enemies is a childish dream in this age. We are in war, death is a very real possibility for both the enemy..." Shadow's eyes scanned over all of us, "And you." He looked over to Sonic once more, "Hedges seemed to have grasped that at a much earlier age."

Needless to say, we were all stunned into silence. Even Knuckles had no words in response. Was I...too naive when I signed up? Did I...even realize the true battlefield of bloodshed, tears and death that I had set foot in?

I gasped when a wave of pure, dark energy tore through the ground towards Sonic, mercilessly tearing through many of our own unlucky troops. Seargant Thorndyke was only barely able to teleport many of them out of attack range. I turned my head to the one who was the origin of the attack and I was greeted to a large, bulky man in heavy, black armor with a massive, darkened broadsword. The man's face was entirely concealed from view. My heart clenched when I saw his attack nearing Sonic, why was he just standing there?! Get out of the—

I was left dumbfounded when the attack tore through Sonic...or so I thought. Sonic had split in two but with no blood, gore, or any of the sort to mark that any form of attack had even hit him...

"An afterimage!" Twilight cried out when the realization hit her. Afterimage? Isn't that when a person or thing moves so fast it's like even they can't keep up?

Following Shadow's pupils, I saw Sonic reappear behind the Heavy Knight with the sword in his right hand already swinging. His opponent didn't flinch at all when Sonic's strike clanked off him uselessly! What was that armor made of?!

The man was eerily silent, staring at Sonic behind his helmet, a cry of relief sounded from one of the survivors of Sonic's recent massacre, "Captain! You're finally here!" The man proclaimed his heavy relief, the tension seeming to melt from his shoulders.

"...You've failed your orders. I was watching the entire battle. This entire squadron was reduced to such little numbers by a single boy. You have all disgraced the powerful name of the Crystal Empire and I hereby relieve you of duty. Never show your faces among our empire again." Those were the cold words of that apparent Captain. How could someone say something so cruel to one of their own allies? Even I felt a little bad for those who survived, they were basically abandoned by their own country.

My eyes widened when a girl, seeming to be around my age, stood up from the ground. Her hair was a lilac color, most of it was held up in a high ponytail as the rest of it sat among her shoulders. Her eyes were yellow and narrow, much like a cat's if I were being perfectly honest. Those very same eyes were glaring blazing holes into their Captain's entire being.

"I refuse to accept that! I've remained loyal to the country of my birth! Through all the terrible things you've done to the innocent and helpless! The young, ill, and elderly alike! I don't care that Equestria is our enemy! This war is absolutely inhumane!" She screamed with a burning passion. What she said was the last thing I expected from someone who fought for our enemy!

"...Are you rebelling against your own country, Percival?" I saw her eyes narrow even further with unbridled rage.

"As you have banished me from my own country, I refuse to go by that code name anymore! My name is Blaze Ignis!" She screamed as she drew a rapier from her waist. Wait...was she about to fight against her own captain?!

"HEY! DON'T FUCKING TURN YOUR BACK ON ME!" I heard Sonic once more scream with rage befitting that of an awoken beast. The Captain turned back to face Sonic, his massive broad sword being raised with both hands.

"First I shall dispose of this Equestrain trash before I punish you for your betrayal, Percival." He calmly said, not even slightly concerned over the relentless killing machine standing right before him. In turn, Sonic raised both of his blades with a grin on his face.

"Why trouble yourself? I'll fucking gut the both of ya..." He said in a low voice that chilled me to the core. It was still so tough to swallow that this was still Sonic...

Leaping into action, Sonic spun like a buzz saw as he seems to home in on his adversary. Once more, he seemed to simply bounce off the enemy's incredibly sturdy armor, with Sonic being forced back and skidding across the dirt. His emerald green eyes were narrowed murderously at the tank of an enemy, that look promised nothing but death if Sonic managed to break past that armor.

I blinked in surprise when a crescent wave of flames slammed into the back of the man's armor, ultimately it didn't do much but leave a large scorch mark on its point of contact. I looked to see that the attack had come from that Blaze girl, her rapier was held in an after-swing position.

"Directly allying with the enemy? Truly disappointing." The shared target said without even a register of the attack.

"That girl...she appears to have an affinity for fire. Just like you, Rainbow." I heard Twilight say to me. Another flame-user? But...she looks to be much more skilled in using it than I am. The only way I managed to even make the smallest of flames was with...Sonic's help.

"I don't need nor will I accept your judgement!" Blaze yelled again as burst forth with an expulsion of flames from the soles of her feet! Amazing! She's moving almost as fast as Sonic!

She reared her rapier back and thrust it forward, her former captain simply letting the thrust bounce off of his armor yet again. What would it take to even damage this guy?! Watching attacks simply bounce off of him was getting incredibly repetitive!

However, I wasn't expecting him actually lift his heavy looking sword and then swing it at Blaze. The attack was slow, making it extremely easy for her to simply backpedal out of range, I'm sure what that attack lacked in speed, it more than made up for in power.

"YOUR OPPONENT IS STILL ME!" Sonic screamed as he charged in once more, raising his blades and repeatedly unleashing strike after strike against that super armor. Each strike clanked off uselessly, but Sonic didn't let up in the slightest, his attacks became more ferocious, faster, more frequent. He was determined to somehow get past the wall of defense in front of him. It was odd...all of Sonic's attacks were all staying at the chest area of the enemy, none straying to any other part of his covered body, I could actually see the scratches being left behind!

I covered my mouth with my hands as the Armor-clad knight reared his fist back and slammed a hard metal fist against Sonic's cheek. I clenched my teeth in worry when the sickening crunch of metal meeting bone filled the area. The rest of my squad winced as Shadow didn't seem to care in the slightest, in fact, why was he still just observing?! Shouldn't he be engaging the enemy?! Turning my gaze back to battle, I couldn't believe my eyes when Sonic stood his ground, forcefully pushing the fist against his face back towards the owner by just moving his head. Even the calm and composed captain gave a small cry of alarm at this.

"If you think..." Sonic pushed his face to stare straight into his enemy's helmet, "That I'm going to go down from a fucking love tap like that...then you're asking me to send you to hell." He growled out just as Blaze smashed her palm against the captain's helmet with flames bursting from her feet once again.

"Burn." Was all she said as her palm seemed to heat up to ridiculous levels. I, as well as Twilight and Tails, gasped when the point of contact _exploded,_ and violently at that! The captain's entire helmet had _melted_ off! Midnight black hair, bushy but narrowed eyebrows, an equally bushy beard and a middle-aged face were exposed along with a small burn on his right temple. Blaze's last attack had even gotten him as well!

"Shit..." I heard him say when his head was fully uncovered, his composure had slipped just a bit. I don't think looking at Sonic's mad, bloodthirsty grin helped it in any way.

* * *

This...man...no monster...the one who had so effortlessly murdered the rest of my squadron(truth be told I was not exactly fond of any of them), I wasn't sure why I was fighting alongside him against my captain. I'm sure it really only occurred to the both of us having the common enemy before us...then again...both of these men are now my enemy...

Captain Greil was simply the enemy I wanted dead first.

After my point-blank Flame Burst destroyed his helmet, Greil had gained a heavily concerned look on his face. From months of working under his command, I knew that Greil fought with a heavy reliance on the defensive capabilities of his armor. Now that I had blown away the armor defending his weakest point, I'm sure he was feeling the pressure of his predicament. Now it was time to finish–

I felt myself get forcibly blown back from the violent, gale-force winds that had erupted from the psychotic mass murderer of my squad. The grass of the area we fought on was blown around, the trees were bending with some even snapping off their roots, the corpses of my fallen former allies were blown away by these tornado level winds! I looked to the center of the hurricane, the man who conjured it grinning like a madman.

"You're exposed...you're through..." He chuckled darkly as he bent at the knees before shooting off at an even faster speed than when he was tearing through my allies. Barely able to follow him with my eyes, I found him quickly closing the distance between himself and Greil. The armored captain seemed alarmed as his affinity for shadows sprung to life as he consumed his own shadow and charged it into his blade before swinging that energy in a wave much like his earlier attack. His pursuer merely sidestepped the attack without losing pace as his grin grew the closer he got to Greil.

"Weren't you the one goin' on and on about how pathetic those slabs of fucking meat were?!" His grin stretched even further, "Cuz in my opinion..." In a flash, he was right in front of Greil, so fast that Greil hadn't even registered this, "You're no fucking better. Hiding behind that armor." He said before flashing right past Greil. My eyes were wide, having only fully caught up with what had just happened. The battlefield was quiet...still...

Slowly, piece by piece, Greil's armor detached from his body until all that remained was his unprotected body and then...

An enormous tornado erupted from directly below Greil, encircling his body with its wild and violent winds. Greil screamed as the lethal twister tore apart and grinded against his flesh. Blood was carried and whipped all about the more his skin was shredded and destroyed in possibly one of the most gruesome deaths I had beheld thus far. Looking past Greil, I witnessed the one responsible for the attack stabbing his blades into ground on either side of him, his breathing labored. Even I felt my breath hitch when I saw him turn around with the wide eyes of a madman and the grin to complete the look.

"What a pathetically predictable 'Captain'. You think I wouldn't catch onto the fact that you don't give a shit about defending yourself? You put so much faith into that armor...so much that you never thought about what would happen to you if it were to break..." His grin stretched even further when the wild twister slowly began to disperse. I had to cover my mouth with my hands to prevent my earlier digested breakfast from returning.

All that remained of Greil was a torn apart skeleton. An arm, several ribs and the entire lower body were nowhere to be found. Several patches of torn skin hung off of it loosely and the several separated pieces of the heart were scattered, one slab of it landing near the blue-haired monster's feet, which he promptly stepped on and squashed.

I felt my heart leap into my throat when he turned his manic gaze towards me, "Oh yeah...you were the one I missed..."

* * *

What...what was that? Was that...really how dangerous Sonic's affinity could be?

 _"You have a deadly affinity there."_

I faintly remember our squad captain telling Sonic this on the day his affinity was awoken. Is this...what he was referring to?

I heard Twilight gasp and fall to her knees beside me, her eyes were wide, scared. She was staring at Sonic with a bewildered look.

"Even in that psychotic state of mind...he was still analyzing his opponent thoroughly...reading him...creating countermeasures...planning..." Twilight audibly gulped, "Someone that terrifyingly adept shouldn't be trifled with..."

Understanding what she had said made what I just witnessed all the more terrifying.

"Sonic...you're amazing...but you're also terrifying..." I breathed out.

He continued to stalk towards the Blaze girl. When she had first declared her defiance against her captain, Sonic didn't seem to intimidate her...but now...I could the fear dancing in her eyes. Every step Sonic took towards her, she took another step back, she had dropped her rapier in her fearful state of mind, the weapon clattering uselessly against the ground. She looked like such a strong, confident individual just before...was Sonic so terrifying to her now after what he did?

"St-Stay back! Don't come near me!" She screamed at him as she continued back pedaling away from him. Honestly, I think that just made Sonic happier.

"That's it...that's what I love to hear..." The grip on his sword tightened, "The sound of you fuckers looking at me with fear in your eyes...begging me for mercy..." She tripped and fell onto her rear as she frantically scuttled backwards, Sonic continuing his march forward. He raised his sword above his head with both hands on the hilt and the tip pointed down towards her, "Now grovel! Keep begging for mercy, you Crystal-bred whore!" I saw her eyes squeeze shut as she prepared herself for the end and Sonic began to bring his sword down...before it dropped out of his hands and he began to fall back! Sonic!

I zoomed off from my position with wings fully extended as I caught him just before he could hit the ground. He was out like a light, all that fighting had to have tired him out...

I heard a growl from in front of me as Blaze was on her feet again, her rapier in hand once more, "Step aside...he needs to die...this monster can't be allowed to—" She stopped mid-sentence when Seargant Shadow appeared behind her with his sword inches away from her throat.

"Drop your weapon or face death. From here on you have been captured by the Equestrian Army." Shadow said coldly as I put my attention back down to Sonic, brushing a blue strand of hair out of his face.

"I hope you wake up soon..." I whispered.

* * *

 **My favorite Sonic character has appeared! Yes, Blaze is my favorite character! So expect extra favoritism towards her!**

 **Anyway, another chapter that DIDN'T take almost a year! I've done good! Anyway, more story advancement next chapter, prepare yourselves.**


End file.
